Attachment for addressing machines



il 27 192 Apr 6 H. A. FORSMAN ATTACHMENT ADDRESSING MACHINES Filed Jan.29. 1925 4 Shanta-Shut 1 A ril- 27., 1926; 1,582,743 f H. A. FORSMANATTACHMENT FOR ADDRESSING MACHINES 'Fi led Jan. 29. 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet4 I "llllllllih" We bsber SBiM-lbsber- 6336 NormalAve.

T 512. Chicago. 111.

WITNESSES I XNVENTOR flibm'nzan' #mmw 40 49 BY ATTORNEYS Patented Apr.27, 1926.

HARRY ALEXANDER FoRsMAN, QF'TRNAFLY, NEW JERSEY.

ATTACHMENT FoR ADDRESSING'MAGHINES.

Application filed January 29, 1925. seriai'nofiatss.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY A. FoR'sMAiy, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Tenafly, in the county of Bergen and State of NewJersey, have invented a new and Improved Attachment for AddressingMachines, of Which the following is a full, clear and exact description.

'This invention relates to an attachment for addressing machines. Anobject of the invention is to provide a simple and eflicient devicewhich can be readily attached to a standard addressing machine forthepurpose of permitting the operator to print the information from astencil or other plate on a card in various Ways.

Another object concerns the provision of simple and efiicieut meanswhereby the various Ways in which the printed matter on an address platecan be transferred to a card can be eiiected simply and easily'ivitho'ut any particular consumption of time or labor on the part ofthe operator and without requiring any great amount of skill after theoperation has once been learned.

A further object concerns the provision of simple and eflicient means toeiiec't the aboveinentioned objects Without thenecessity for alteringthe addressing machine in any material Way.

The invention is illustrated in the drawings, of which- Figure 1 is aplan view of the printing platform of the machine;

Fig. 2 is a similar vie'w'showing the parts in position to print;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the address plate from which the printing ismade;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the card carrier;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the card;

Fig. 7 is a plan View of the printing platform of the machine with amodified form of the device thereon showing a portion of the 1 deviceout away Fig. 8 is a similar view showing the parts in position toprint;

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8 showing the parts in difierentprinting positions;

Fig. 10 is a section on the line 1010 of Fig. '9; Y

Fig. 11 is a section on the line 11-11 of Fi,g.- 9;

Fig. 12'is a planvietv of a eard rinted bymeans of the modified formshown in Figs. 7, 8 and 9;'a'nd Fig. 13 is a section taken on'the line13-13 of 'Fig. 9.

'The forn'is'of'theinvention shown -'in the drawings are preferredforms, although it is understood that modifications in theconstru'ction'and arrangement of the parts and in the charaeter'ottheinaterialsused'i'n'ay be adopted Without departing from the spirit of theinvention as set forth in the appended claims.

v In the operation of an addressing machine thematter to be printed on'a card is obtained, generally, fr'oin'an electroplate'or similarpl'ate,-'and is generally placed thereon as'follo'wv's John H. J ones,

26 Lexington Ave,

New York City;

If it were onlyjpossible to print -in one Way from this plate,thef'print'ed matter could never be printed on the card exe'ept in the'mann'er shown above. However, it is possible by means of "my inventionto take the name, the street address and the city address, anddistribute them on the card in various ways While at the sametim'e thisone single plate is used. This address is effected by using slottedtransfer masks which are successively associated With a gauge plateattached to the machine, so that all a person has to do is to mount acard in the mask and successively place it'in position on the gaugeplate so that it and its slots are successively disposed adjacent theproper portions of theelectroplat'e during successive printing actionsof the machine.

By means of the apparatus hereinafter to be described, the name, streetaddress and city address canbe'pr'int'ed on the card along the topthereof in order, or the same material can be printed on the card Withthe last name first and then the usual 'full name, street address andcity address, this latter arrangement bein'gfor the purpose of properindexing. I

In the preferred form 'of'th'e invention as shown in the drawings, 10represents the printing platform or table of an addressing machine. 11represents the tape which carries the envelope on which the address isto be printed. Disposed opposite the printing opening 12 is theelectroplate 13 which has the type 14 formed on its lower portion andsimilar information printed on a card 15 on its-upper portion. The printing head of the machine, marked 16 in Fig. 3, is adapted to descendandforce the envelope against the type onthe electroplate 13 to printthe address thereon in the usual manner and in accordance with thedisposition ofthe type shown on the plate. 7

When it is desired thatthe information on the electroplate betransferred to a card in a different way than that in which it isdisposed on the electroplate, I employ the following means: The firstelementof this means is an adjustable plate 17. This plate 17 isprovided with a flange 18 to be connected to the platform 10 by means ofclamping screws 19. Slidably disposed on this plate 17 is an adjustableplate 20 provided with transverse slots 21 in which adjusting screws 22fastened to the plates 1? are adapted to slide. By loosening or tighening these screws the position of the plate 20 wit-hrespect to theplate 17 can he fixed. Along the forward edge this plate 20 is providedwith a plurality of pairs of longitudinally spaced slots 23. It will benoticed that these slots are arranged in pairs at different distancesfrom the front edge of the plate and fat successively increasingdistances from the lateral edges of the plate. It will also be notedthat the distance between successive pairs of slots, measuredtransversely of the plate from the front edge, 18 equal to the distancebetween the lines of type on the electroplate.

In Fig. 5 I show a mask comprising a plate 24 having slots 25 and 26adjacent the front edge'thereof, and spring'clips 27 near the rear edge.This plate is also provided with a stop 'fiange 28 at the left sidethereof. This plate is also provided with V apertures 29. Theseapertures are adapted to receive screws 30 mounted on a cardcarriersupporting frame 31 (see Figs. 2 and 3). The central aperture 29 isadapted to receive a handle 3a. The card is shown in Fig. and it isdesired to arint the information from the address plate 13 on to thecard in the manner indicated, that is to say, in the line along the top,instead of in one comparatively condensed space with one lineimmediately below the other.

In order to do this, the card 33 is mounted on the mask 24 in theposition shown in Fig. 2, and the mask is fastened to the supporting arm31. This frame is then placed with the lugs 34thereof fitting into theupper and left-hand pair of slots 23 of the gauge plate 20.

- lVhen the mask and card are thus exposed, the pressure or printinghead of the machine descends and causes the name S. B. Vfebster to beprinted on the card in the position shown in Fig. 6. The mask supportinframe is then moved to the next lower pair of slots 23 positioned lowerand to the right, and another printing action takes place. This permitsthe street address to be printed in line, as shown in Fig. 6. The maskand its support are then moved to the extreme right and to the lowermostpair of slots on the plate 20, whereupon the city a d State addressesare printed in the position shown in Fig. 6. It will, therefore, be seenthat by providing a gauge plate with a plurality of successively andproperly disposed slots, I can definitely position a mask with respectto the electroplate so that definite portions of the printed matter onsaid electroplate can be definitely disposed and printed on the card asdesired.

Sometimes it is desired, especially in using index cards, to print thelast name in the upper left-hand corner of the card and then to printthe full name with the street and city addresses, to the right, as shownin Fig. 12. To do this it is, therefore, nec cssary to transfer the lastname all by itself on to this corner of the card from the electroplate.In order to effect this operation,

I use a modified form of gauge plate and mask, shown in Figs. 7 to 13,inclusive. In accordance with this modification I use a 'ff' f' lt'l'lboi eient 01m 0 gauge p a e, w no 1 cars the number 35. This 1sprovided with a slot 36, as usual, and with two pairs of 1011- gitudinalgauge slots 37 and 38, the slots 3? being further away from the frontedge and longer than the slots 38. Adjacent the right-hand slot 37 is ascale 39. I use a iodified form of mask 40 the rear edge of which isprovided with depending lugs simi lar to'lugs 34 previously described,and with a main printing aperture 41 and an auxiliary'printing aperture42. The aperture 41 is larger and more centrally depressed,

*liereas the aperture 42 is narrower and disposed in the corner of themask plate 40. The stencil 40 is also provided with trans verse slots 43in which a card carrier bar 44 is slidable, this bar being provided witha handle and card clips 46 and 47. As shown in Fig. 8, the card 48is'shown in position on the mask, and this is shown in position with itslugs in engagement with the apertures 38. At the right end of the rearedge of the stencil plate 40 I dispose a metallic index finger 49, shownin detail in Fig. 13, which is adapted to engage with any one of thesmall holes 50 disposed along the scale 39, previously mentioned, whenthe stencil plate is moved to this position.- In order to enable thismodification to be used, I remove the screws 51 on the platform of theaddressing machine and place on the platform a plate 52 having a scale53 there on similar to scale 39. This scale 53 is disposed adjacent theprinted matter formed on the card 15 on the electroplate 13, and byobserving the scale it will be noticed that the letter WV, the firstletter of the name Webster is located approximately eight spaces fromthe beginning of the scale. ,It

is therefore necessary, in order to print the word Vebster in the properleft-hand corner of the card L8, to insert the lugs 34 in the'clongatedslots 37 and to slide the mask to the left until the finger 49 hasengaged with the aperture corresponding with the eighth graduation onthe scale 39 on the mask adjacent the right-hand slot 37. Thisdisposition of the mask places the narrow slot 32 opposite the type onthe electroplate corresponding to the name \Vebster, and the printingoperation taking place at this time will cause the name to be printed inthe proper place on the card 48. By moving the mask 40 so that its lugs34 engage the small slots 38, as shown in Fig. 7, the main printingaperture 41 will be disposed opposite'the electroplate and the printingoperation taking place at this time will cause the complete informationto be printed on the card 48, as shown in Fig. 12.

It will be obvious that the parts described heretofore to effect thesetwo different arrangements of the printing of the type from theelectroplate on to a card can be adjusted in many ways to effect similararrangements without departing from the spirit of the invention. Thelocation of the slots and their relation to each other will effectvariations in the disposition of the printing material as may bedesired. By adjusting the gauge plates 20 and 35 with respect to theclamping plate 17, various sizes of masks can be accommodated, thechoice of the mask to be used being regulated in accordance with thewished-for arrangement of printing, also in accordance with the size ofthe envelope on which the material is to be printed.

What. I claim is 1. An attachment for addressing machines having aprinting aperture, which comprises a slotted gauge plate having slots atsuccessively increasing distances from the printing and the lateraledge.

2. An attachment for addressing machines having printing aperture, whichcomprises a slotted gauge plate having slots at successively increasingdistances from the printing and the lateral edge, and a mask adapted toco-operate with said gauge plate.

3. An attachment for addressing machines having a printing aperture,which comprises a mask having a slot, an addressing plate having spacedlines of type and disposed in said aperture, and means for positioningthe mask in a succession of positions with respect to the type plate toregister the slot with successive lines of type, and a card mounted onsaid mask having portions thereof exposed in said slots.

4. An attachment for addressing machines having a printing aperture,which includes a mask having a narrow slot in one corner and a centralslotof ample dimensions, a support for said mask, means for moving themask on said support, a gauge plate having a plurality of spaced slots,and means on the mask to engage in said slots whereby the mask may bepositioned to align one or the other of its slots with respect to theprinting aperture. 4

5. An attachment for addressing machines having a printing aperture,which includes length, a mask plate adapted to be disposed with respectto said slots, means on said mask to project into said slots, a scaleadjacent one of said elongated slots, and indicator means on the mask tomove adjacent said scale to indicate the position of the mask in theslots. I

6. An attachment for addressing machines having a printing aperture,which includes a gauge plate having a plurality of pairs of slots in adefinite spaced relation thereon, one pair of said slots havingconsiderable length, a mask adapted to be disposed with respect to saidslots, means on said mask to project into said slots, a scale adjacentone of said elongated slots, indicator means on the mask to moveadjacent said scale to indicate the position of the mask in the slot, ascale on the addressing machine adjacent the printing aperture, and atype plate in the printing aperture, the position of the type capable ofbeing noted on the scale adjacent the aperture.

HARRY ALEXANDER FORSMAN.

